extraordinary item - Investment & Finance Definition

A revenue or expense that is unusual and infrequent, as
defined by the Accounting Principles Board in its Opinion No. 30. Examples of
extraordinary items include expenses to deal with a fire, earthquake, or
uninsured losses from a flood, the gain or loss from early retirement of debt,
or the expropriation of a property by a foreign government. Companies’
financial statements separate extraordinary items from regular expenses in
order to give investors what the companies consider a more accurate picture of
their ongoing business and expenses.